Buzzfeed Unsolved is a fantastic piece of digital entertainment: Solved
Buzzfeed Unsolved is a show produced by Buzzfeed.com and airs on Buzzfeed, YouTube and now Amazon Prime Video. It is a show starring two Buzzfeed editors Shane Madej and Ryan Bergra as they investigate the paranormal and crimes and attempt to solve them; hence the name “Unsolved.” Buzzfeed Unsolved comes in three forms; first “Paranormal” which finds Shane Ryan traveling around the world in search of evidence of the supernatural. The second is “True Crime” True Crime finds them investigating actual crimes that have gone unsolved for many years. The third is a season they only released between the other two seasons offseasons and that is Buzzfeed Unsolved: Sports. Which are about sports mysteries which have gone unsolved. The episodes are usually 15 to 25 minutes long with exception to some of the season finales which have lasted close to 45 minutes before. The series is filmed in a traditional style with some animations used to present the setup for what the two are investigating in the episode. After finding popularity online, Buzzfeed was able to put Unsolved onto Amazon Prime video, launched an online merchandise store and even spun Unsolved out into its own YouTube channel separate from the Buzzfeed one. Buzzfeed Unsolved is a show for the digital age, its takes two rather overdone subjects (supernatural and true crime) and has something fresh to say about them. This freshness comes from Ryan and Shane, as their two different viewpoints lead us through the show. The main theme going through the series Ryan is a firm believer in the supernatural while Shane is a very large skeptic. Each episode and season find each one of their beliefs on the subject tested and at times it becomes heated between the two, but at the end of the day, they do not let their difference in belief affect their friendship.
Going back to the beginning of Unsolved shows just how much the show has evolved. For the first “season” (they do not count it as technically the first season) it was only Ryan, Shane had yet to start at Buzzfeed. The episodes consisted of Ryan sitting in a car with a different Buzzfeed host each time and present the show. It was true crime and they would only discuss the case and their thoughts on it with minimal animation. The show was then relaunched with the first season of Supernatural and now featured Shane, a full set, and they would travel to the locations of the case that was featured in the episode the show now had reached real success; with the most watched episode having 3.4 million viewers. The show which from the surface seems to now have any deeper meaning does have some. The ongoing debate between Shane and Ryan proves at times to be very insightful even for a comedy Buzzfeed show about ghost hunting and old crime stories. The show can be touching at times when the case Shane and Ryan are presenting in the episode is a rather sensitive one. In one particular supernatural episode, they went to Salem and investigated the witch trials and discussed the horror of what occurred there. The episode ended on a rather somber note with Shane and Ryan in the graveyard where graves of the woman killed were buried. They took the last few minutes of the episode to talk about how wrong and hateful the witch trials actually were. At times the show can have some meaning in showing they ways events of the past were wrong and why.
The community behind Buzzfeed Unsolved is very large as well. The YouTube comment section is always very active, so are the forms and reddit page. There are two groups of fans the “Shaneatcs” which take Shane’s skeptic side and then there is the “Begras” which take Ryan’s more over the top side in believing in the paranormal. Without this difference in opinion between Ryan and Shane, the show would lose much of itself. And without their split and the two fans groups not existing the show would not be what it is today. The fans have taken very strongly to the two camps so much so that there is different merch for the two groups on the shows online store. The show has also been shared in educational ways with even a college course being taught using the videos as a way to give some historical context to the topics being discussed. Now with a third show “Unsolved sports” and with Unsolved making its way onto Amazon Prime video, the possibilities are endless as far as the growth of the fan base goes and there is no telling where the show could go to air next. That is one of the largest things someone can get out of Unsolved if they are willing to go all in on the show, the sense of community. They are a large, diverse, and kind group of people. Yes, like all commutes there are some bad eggs, but overall, they are all great. And just reading the YouTube comment section can show you this.
BuzzFeed unsolved is a fantastic example of using the digital medium to its advantage. The show uses aminations to show the story of the case of the episode. These are usually a bit funny and appear crudely drawn, which add to the humor of them. The videos do offer looks into historical events during the True Crime and sports seasons. The airplane heist of DB Cooper, the Chicago aspirin scare, the Alcatraz prison break, and even smaller events such as; why did Michael Jordon actual retire from the NBA? The videos also utilize yellow and blue text which signify who is talking. Unsolved could not have existed before the digital age, due to the animations and graphics used in the show. Typically, Ryan is the yellow text and Shane is the blue. This text has become a staple of the show and is even on a shirt which is featured on the store.
Buzzfeed unsolved is a show that is much needed at this time in the digital age. There is so much dividing us and that can come through on other shows, but on Unsolved it is something that binds the show and its fans together. The difference of belief between Ryan and Shane is a healthy and good thing. They show two different standpoints and that as friends, they can still disagree. Even though a show on Buzzfeed is not going to change the world or fix major problems it can perhaps numb us from some of the bad things for a little bit. And maybe someone out there will see Ryan and Shane bantering about not having the same mindset and see that just because you disagree with someone that does not mean you cannot be friends with that person. Or not respect them.
